Not a Baseless Rumor
by Artistic18
Summary: Naoto and Yu weren't together- they just happened to be two very close people who hung out a lot. And yet, somehow, everyone was completely convinced that they were going out with each other. Of course, Yu's actions do nothing to help dispel such nonsense. flirty Yu, suggestions of YuNao and KanNao


**AN:** My first time posting in the Persona fandom. Hope no one's too OOC (I based this strictly off my perception of the game, as I haven't read the manga or watched the anime)... I used the name Yu for the main character, but feel free to think of it as Souji instead, if you'd like. As far as his personality goes, I see him as this calm, cool, and collective, yet playful type, which is what I was trying to convey. I do ship YuNao, but I decided not to make this an official romance story- just a lot of flirting I guess XD

Anyway, please enjoy! :)

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"So have you guys heard the latest rumor going on about you two? Everyone says you're dating!" Yukiko revealed eagerly, her eyes bright with anticipation of discussing what she'd deemed as 'some juicy gossip.'

Yu simply gave an amused look in return before holding open their high school's front doors for Yukiko and Chie. They nodded and smiled in thanks before stepping through and continuing the walk back to their houses.

"Is that so?" the silver-haired male asked in a slightly curious tone. Chie raised a skeptic eyebrow, though the small grin on her face was unmistakable.

"You don't seem too surprised or upset about this. Is there some hidden truth to those so-called 'rumors'?" she asked in a suggestively teasing manner.

"No, of course not; Naoto and I are just friends. But tell me more about these rumors; they sound entertaining. I'm surprised I haven't heard them yet if they're as popular as you say…" Yu trailed off in thought. Yukiko turned to offer him a beaming look, her eyes bright with excitement.

"Well it's mostly girls saying it. The tagline going around is 'The Detective Prince and the Mysterious Transfer Student.' You even have a pairing name. You wanna hear it?" Yukiko inquired hastily, her tone doing nothing to hide her eagerness. Yu offered her an amused look before nodding his head as a sign to continue.

"Ok, so it's the first parts of your names put together-"

"Senpai!" came a loud, irritated, and slightly flustered voice. The trio turned around curiously to see none other than the other party involved in the rumor, Naoto Shirogane herself. In a few seconds she was right in front of them, a sour expression on her face while pointedly not making eye contact with the only male present.

"I'm glad I managed to catch up with you. You and I need to have a brief discussion about a few things," Naoto stated grimly as she forced herself to meet Yu's gaze without shying away.

"This wouldn't have anything to do with that 'The Detective Prince and the Mysterious Transfer Student' thing, would it? I just heard about it myself from Yukiko," he questioned lightly. Naoto's face took the opportunity to light up a bright shade of red.

"Yes, it does include such matters," she responded disapprovingly, a hand on her hip as she trained her gaze on the ground once more, her brow furrowed in agitation.

"Alright then. I'll catch up with you guys later, okay?" the light haired male aimed towards their two spectating friends. The girls nodded and began to walk away, but not before playfully making little hearts at them with their fingers. Noticing Naoto's unamused glare, the two scampered off quickly, their giggles becoming faint with distance.

Naoto sighed, shaking her head as she tried to clear her thoughts. She jumped slightly at the unexpected feeling of Yu's comforting hand on her shoulder.

"All you alright?" he asked in concern, shifting into his infamous calm and collected personality effortlessly. Naoto nodded quickly, her face still red from the hand placed on her shoulder.

"S-Senpai, if you don't mind, could you…?" she trailed off nervously, her eyes unconsciously locked on the source of her discomfort. Immediately getting the hint, Yu removed his hand and offered her a sheepish grin in apology.

"Now, what exactly did you want to talk about?" Yu questioned casually enough, though the twinkle of mirth in his eyes was clear. It was obvious that he knew where this conversation was headed and he most likely didn't feel the same way about it that Naoto did. The young detective glowered at the look in his eyes, not at all appreciating the nonchalance he seemed to have towards this situation.

"As I alluded to earlier, I wanted discuss the current rumors that have been going around stating that you and I are…'romantically involved,'" she revealed with an uneasy cough. Yu looked at her curiously, a wide grin making its way to his face.

"What about them? From the little bit I've heard, it seems more funny than anything," he quipped suggestively at her. To his slight disappointment, Naoto didn't seem amused in the least.

"What part of this could one possibly find funny? Perhaps _you_ don't care about your reputation being tainted, but _I_ have certain standards I'd like to upkeep," she stated coldly. Yu gave her a feigned look of hurt before offering her another light-hearted grin.

"Oh, come _on_, Naoto! Lighten up! It isn't like you to get so bent out of shape over a little gossip. I mean, before I really knew you, there was a rumor going around about you being a _playboy_ of all things. Surely you'd heard about that, but it doesn't seem like you cared anything about it," he justified in a somewhat confused tone. He watched with great interest how her cheeks flushed and her eyes once again seemed unable to meet his. Soon his face lit up with understanding and he was suddenly grinning down at her slyly.

"Ooooh, of course! You wouldn't care about _those_ rumors because they were completely baseless. I mean, how could you be a player when all you did was reject girls? If anything, you were a heartbreaker," he passed and took great satisfaction in her face paling as he continued to unravel the truth. "Thisrumor about us, however, sounds pretty legit: we're together all the time, you actually smile and laugh around me…In other words, these rumors probably stemmed for all the same reasons Yakushiji-san gave me that white card: we seem 'close,'" he ended confidently. Naoto hastily looked up at him, her eyes wide and panicked.

"I assure you that it's only because of our friendship that I act that way towards you! I-I have no romantic inclinations or ulterior motives while speaking to you, Senpai! We're simply very close friends!" she defended hastily, her cheeks still flushed a light pink as she tried to compose herself.

"Is that all we are? I dunno, I remember specifically letting you know that I'm glad you're really a girl. I wonder the real reason would be for me to say something like that…" Yu chimed playfully, the distinctive gleam of amusement ever-present in his eyes. Naoto's jaw dropped slightly as she stared at her senpai in disbelief.

"W-What? A-Are you saying that you told me that because you…?" she trailed off bashfully, her face still ridden with both shock and confusion. The blush was once again present on her cheeks as she mentally attempted to analyze her current situation, something she usually wasn't so inept at doing.

So taken aback by his 'confession,' she didn't even notice when the older male was suddenly much closer to her face than she would usually allow. Lost in a daze, she'd only realized their close proximity when she felt her nose being tickled by his soft breathing. She completely froze, her heart beating loudly in her chest as she found herself unable to move or even think while attempting to predict her senpai's next move.

Her breathing picked up as she felt his hand graze the side of her neck, his face moving even closer to hers. Her thoughts were in chaos when his lips were a mere centimeters from hers, her mind blank when she was sure he was going to kiss her. A few moments passed without the feeling of anything on her lips as she realized his face had taken a whole other route entirely and she could feel his breathing against her ear instead.

"…A flustered Naoto is the best thing ever, I swear. I wouldn't trade it for anything," Yu murmured softly. Naoto blinked and found her senpai once again a reasonable distance from her face as he grinned unabashedly at her. The movement had been so quick that she hadn't even had the time to process it.

"…W-What just happened?" It was Naoto's turn to ask the questions now as she tried to comprehend what had just taken place. Yu simply erupted in an unexpected bout of laughter.

"I flirted with you and you had a complete mental breakdown. That's what I got out of it anyway," Yu stated with a shrug, though his amusement was still obvious. Naoto was once again taken aback, her face once again as red as a tomato.

"F-Flirted…!?" she squeaked, almost as if wanting to protest by saying that had gone further than just 'flirting.' "I wish you would stop saying embarrassing things to me whenever you please, Senpai!" she huffed indignantly before crossing her arms and letting a frown mar her pretty face. A low growl caught in her throat at the broad grin that was plastered on his face once more.

"You're so cute that I almost can't take it, Nao-chan~" Yu cooed softly, Naoto's frown quickly deepening into a scowl.

"Senpai…!" she started warningly, growling outwardly now as her anger was dismissed with a mere wave of his hand.

"Wouldn't it be easier to just admit that you wouldn't mind if the rumor was true? Else, I don't see why you'd take this so seriously," Yu reiterated his point from earlier softly. Naoto was very irritated with herself that she couldn't tell whether or not he was still just messing with her.

"What you said before about my feelings towards the initial rumors about me being lax was correct. Indeed, I found them baseless. In addition, they were things I didn't think of much because I was so busy trying to solve the case. But now with the case being over and people misunderstanding our relationship, this particular rumor is just…" she trailed off earnestly, her eyes pleading with him to start taking her conversation seriously.

"I understand," Yu replied softly once more with a nod. Naoto finally gave a relieved grin, glad her senpai understood her. "You already have someone you like."

The grin was quickly cleared from Naoto's face as she stared back at him in horror.

"Don't _you_ start misunderstanding, too! T-There's no one that I like at the moment!" she insisted feverously. She was amazed at his ability to keep a serious facade while saying something so absurd.

"Should the rumor going around be 'The Detective Prince and The Sewing Punk' instead?" Yu asked in an even tone, making sure not to falter from his expressionless demeanor. He almost failed when Naoto gave him a truly baffled look that for some reason he hadn't been expecting.

"'Sewing Punk'? Who could you possibly be referring to with that?" she demanded irritably.

"You…really don't know?" Yu asked in disbelief, feeling as if the life had been sucked out of him. He hadn't even been able to fully keep up his pokerface. How oblivious could an _ace detective _**be**? Sometimes he wondered if maybe she knew about the way Kanji felt about her, but just never acknowledged it because she didn't want to have to break his heart or something.

'_I mean, she can't really be __**this**__ dense about it, right?'_

But when he looked at the no-nonsense and genuinely confused look on her face, he realized that there was a high probability that somehow, she probably really didn't know.

'…_Or maybe she can be this dense. And yet she always picks up on me flirting with her…I don't think I'll ever understand this. I should just stop trying.'_

"…Absolutely no one, Naoto. Obviously I was just making another person up just to mess with you," Yu stated emotionlessly once more while trying not to face palm himself. If she read between the lines, she would be able to hear his sarcasm. "And as far as the rumors about us go, I wouldn't feed into it too much. I'm pretty sure since it's mostly girls spreading them, they're just trying to have some sort of delusional yaoi fantasy about us- despite knowing you're a girl."

Apparently his theory didn't sit well with Naoto whose reaction seemed to be just staring blankly at nothing in particular.

"Don't get so worked up over this, okay? It's no big deal. You don't have to feel rushed by these girls' rumors; feel free to confess to me whenever you feel you're ready," Yu continued with a pokerface that made Naoto once again wonder if he was being serious. She turned to focus her gaze on him, her expression somewhere between being irritated, flustered, and annoyed all at the same time. Her hand twitch tentatively at her side where her gun stayed hidden away, the brief thought of putting it to use crossing her mind.

"Sometimes I really hate you, Senpai," she gritted out angrily, a visibly displeased look upon her face. Yu simply beamed back at her and hooked an arm around her shoulders, pulling her into a loose hug before finally starting the trek back to their homes. He wondered how weird they looked just standing in the same spot Yukiko and Chie had left them at with him flirting with Naoto in plain sight of anyone willing to glance over.

Yu's eyes gleamed with mischief once more as he thought of all the potential rumors that would no doubt be circulating Yasogami High when they returned to school the next day. Naoto would be none too happy, but Yu would definitely get a kick out of teasing her again.

"Love you too, Nao-chan~"

_End_

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**AN:** Well there's a short little fluffy(?) one-shot I thought of one day while playing the game lol. Again, hope you enjoyed!


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